Eight women of the group headed to Applegate Lake to hike on Collings Mountain. It was wonderful to have Kay back from her travels. Being in just two cars, it was easy to park on the side of Highway 238 at the Collings Mountain TH. This time of year, the Hart-Tish Recreation Area picnic parking area with bathrooms is closed and the street entrance at the gate posts “no parking.” The continuous trail one way goes up from this TH to a summit across and down to the Watkins Campground TH to the west covering 7 miles one way.
We hiked in and out (better phrased as up and down) from the Collings Mountain TH on the east side, completing 4.2 miles RT and a steep 1,090’ elevation gain. Quite a ‘stretch’ for our moderate group. The trail took us down some switchbacks into a gulch and then along a mossy creek bed (absent water this time of year) and up through a forest of Douglas Fir, white pine, madrone, and big leaf maple. Lots of poison oak off the narrow trail but too close for comfort.
We took a short spur trail to the left up to the huge Bigfoot Trap built long ago by folks who kept hearing about ‘bigfoot’ sightings (never caught). It’s a pretty ominous structure with a trap door held up by a log, too ominous for us to venture inside though the “guillotine” appearing entrance. Returning to the main trail, we continued up a short distance past a prospector’s Adit, a short tunnel built by prospectors to find ore. Peering in, we couldn’t tell how far in it went, and weren’t about to venture into the darkness. We then continued up the steep grade in search of what appeared on the map to be a viewpoint. Not finding one and having had enough climbing, we had lunch on the trail and returned. On the way down, we were able to get “peek-a-boo’ views of Applegate Lake, of course low water line this time of year.
Considering a future hike up Collings Mountain from the Watkins TH, we drove down a few miles to check it out. There we found the parking area also closed with “no parking” sign, but space on the street for a couple of cars. Hiking up the mountain from this TH would be a bit easier going, less steep, but still significant. It starts at 2,000’, passes one viewpoint early on, then continues to the summit with most expansive views at 3,625’ after about 3 miles. Our group would not hike to the summit as the elevation gain is beyond our guidelines, but making it a 4-mile RT might be appropriate and still nice especially in springtime. Other AHG groups might consider this 6-mile in and out (up and down) to the summit. Alternatively, a car shuttle arrangement would allow for a one-way hike up from Watkins TH and down to Collings TH for a 7-mile one-way journey with 1,700’ elevation gain. Warning, the trek downward on this grade is challenging for balance and joints because it is steep, narrow, covered with small rocks and lots of leaves.
Elisabeth
-
1. TH sign
-
3. Prospector's addit
-
4. Clearing trail
-
5. Applegate Lake
-
6. Invasive grapevine
-
7.
-
8
-
9.
-
10
-
Group
